Hamburg European Championships QF Preview – Carlos Alcaraz versus Karen Khachanov

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2 years ago

Carlos Alcaraz in action at the 2021 US Open

We are reaching the pre-climax stage of the Hamburg European Open as the men’s quarterfinal matches are all set. In this article, we will discuss the Carlos Alcaraz versus Karen Khachanov match and what to expect from it.

TOKYO, JAPAN – JULY 30, 2021: ROC athlete Karen Khachanov defeats Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain during a men s semi-final singles tennis match against at the Ariake Tennis Park as part of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Olympische Spiele, Olympia, OS Sergei Bobylev/TASS PUBLICATIONxINxGERxAUTxONLY TS10A62B

Carlos Alcaraz’s form coming into the match

With 37 wins from 42 matches this year, the Spaniard is certainly the favorite to go the distance. The 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz has had a stellar season winning four titles already. He might not have reached beyond the quarter-final stage at a Grand Slam this year but a solid performance at Hamburg could hold him in good stead heading into the US Open.

Alcaraz began his campaign with a win over Nicola Kuhn. It wasn’t as convincing as expected though. The promising youngster lost the first set before returning strongly in the second. The third set was a closely-contested affair with Alcaraz edging out his opponent in the tiebreak. In the round of 16, Alcaraz squared off against Filip Krajinovic. The former played like his usual self and won the match in straight sets. Krajinovic did put up a fight in the first set and took it to the tiebreak but in the second set, it was all Alcaraz.

Karen Khachanov’s form coming into the match

The Russian has played well in patches this year but a title has eluded him. Khachanov faced Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. Like Alcaraz, the world No. 26 lost the first set of his first match in the competition. He came back strongly in the second set and went on to win the third set in a tiebreaker. An impressive part of his game has been his serves and he managed 11 aces in the match.

In the Round of 16, the 26-year-old faced the Italian veteran Fabio Fognini. Khachanov won the match with relative ease in straight sets. So the journeys for both Alcaraz and Khachanov have been coincidentally similar.

Head-to-Head

Alcaraz leads the head-to-head 1-0 against Khachanov. The former will go into the match as the favorite. Khachanov will have to be at his best to give the Spaniard a good run for his money.